POI Iron Man fusion stories
by whomii2
Summary: Crossover fusion with Iron Man (Finch is Tony Stark; Reese is Iron Man; Carter is Pepper; Fusco is Happy) [series of one-shots]
1. Chapter 1 Clothes Make the Man

John was as surprised as the police when the sassy, smartly dressed woman barged into the police station, posting his bail and demanding his release. He was intrigued enough by her attitude, a mix of sympathy and disdain, to allow himself to be persuaded to see her boss. She was quiet on the way to the meeting, but their bulky driver more than made up for it with his almost non-stop chatter. At the park John was surprised to meet the famous but reclusive billionaire inventor Harold Finch. Although intrigued by the man's somewhat vague job offer, John refused. The billionaire just smiled and gave him a card with a number on it "for when you change your mind."

John held out for three days before his curiosity finally got the better of him. He had also been at loose ends for too long and was secretly hoping that this nebulous position might offer him a new purpose. So he cleaned himself up, called the number, and was driven out to the billionaire's estate by the chatty driver. He was greeted with a knowing smile by the assistant, who led him down to the billionaire's work room. When John asked for more particulars about the job, he was surprised and a bit alarmed when the billionaire asked him to take off his clothes.

"What's wrong with my clothes" John asked, glad that Carter had left them alone but not sure that she wasn't still observing them remotely.

"Nothing" the billionaire replied soothingly, "although I think you will find my suit a bit more…versatile" and he pushed a button to reveal a gleaming red and gold suit of armor.


	2. Chapter 2 Test Flight

Reese squirmed in his skin-tight black body stocking, blushing under Carter's bland regard (why was she here anyway?) while Finch puttered away at his laptop checking the readouts from the various sensors.

John asked plaintively why he couldn't just wear his boxers and a T-shirt under the Iron Man armor - it wasn't like anyone could see it anyway. Finch glanced up from his laptop "In addition to helping to regulate your body temperature under extreme conditions during armor use, the form-fitting endoskeleton is also non-conductive as a precaution in case of unexpected sparking in…sensitive areas."

Wincing at that, John resigned himself to the body-hugging garment. Although next time Fusco could act as gopher when Finch had him try it on.

It had taken a bit of practice before John could get the hang of shooting pulsar rays from his palms. But eventually he had adapted and now the firing range was littered with the smoking remains of the demolished targets. John met Finch's pleased smile with a big grin of his own-this was so cool!

John was surprised when instead of the usual underground bunker he was taken to a huge tent-like structure for his first test with the repulsar boots. He slowly walked to the center of the structure, so smothered in protective gear that he look like a lumpy snowman. Gazing up at the tent over head, he asked

"Wouldn't open sky be better for a test flight? No one can see us out here and I am likely to smack into that."

"Exactly. Best to keep to low altitudes, at least at first. After all, what goes up must come down, and a bad landing from too great a height could be….problematic." (John interpreted "problematic" to be polite for "pancake")

Finch went on "The tent is made of superelastic flubber in order to stretch in response to impact if you exceed the target height. Flubber has also been incorporated into your protective gear to help absorb and dissipate the force on impact in the event of a forced landing."

"Flubber?"

"Flexible rubber, another little invention of mine" Finch said modestly.

John revised his initial vision of a pancake to one of a bouncy ball.


	3. Chapter 3 Post Mission

The latest Iron Man mission had ended in a near disaster.

Harold had already sequestered himself his lab by the time John began to get over the effects of his concussion. With Harold out of reach, John found himself the sole focus of Carter's fierce protective instincts. He was forced to eat and rest since she couldn't impose the same behavior on Harold. John was beginning to loath the sight of chicken noodle soup, but fortunately Lionel was willing to bring him contraband in the form of beer and take out.

Having regained his strength, it was time to deal with a guilt-stricken Harold.

He made his way down to Harold's lab, rapping on the glass door to gain the genius inventor's attention.

Harold's head popped up from behind a mound of pieces for the Iron Man suit, where he had been feverishly working on upgrades since John's last mission. His hair was in complete disarray and his eyes were rather manic, but he had a hesitant smile as he caught sight of John. He got up stiffly and made his way slowly over to the door. When he opened the door John cleared his throat and began "Sorry to interrupt you Harold, but the TV reception seems to be acting up. I was really hoping to watch the big game tonight-my favorite team is playing." John pasted a rather forlorn look on his face. He didn't think it was justified, but he wasn't above using Harold's guilt about the recent mission to get what he wanted.

Looking back wistfully at his equipment, Harold left the lab and began to follow John upstairs. The lab door quietly locking shut behind him.

In the upstairs lounge Harold frowned at the blurry, distorted picture on the big screen TV. The problem occurred on every channel. He couldn't believe it, his personal super satellite reception shouldn't be subject to this type of interference. He began poking around at the equipment, trying to discover the source of the problem. Not seeing any obvious indications, he muttered that he would need to do a more in depth diagnostic. He then became aware of the lovely smell of green tea. Turning, he saw John offering him a plastic mug with a smile on his face. "Why don't you take a break for a minute while I go fetch your laptop?" he said gently.

Harold grumbled slightly at the interruption, but was swayed by the lure of the tea and sat down on the nearby couch.

John left the room, pausing just outside the door to keep an eye on Harold as he sipped his tea. In a short time the mild sedative John had laced the tea with took effect and Harold slumped over in the first sleep he had had in days.

John reentered the room and contemplated his sleeping boss. Normally he would carry him to his bedroom, but he didn't think his ribs would appreciate that at the moment. So he settled for removing Harold's glasses and arranging him more comfortably on the sofa. He then covered him with the fluffy blanket before settling down on the adjacent sofa where he could keep an eye on him.

The Machine obligingly cleared up the interference it had been causing on the TV and muted the volume. John figured the food he had ordered (Harold's favorites) should be here about the time Harold finished his nap, and began plotting how he would get the genius to eat dinner. At least this time he hadn't needed to resort to a fire alarm to get the man out of the lab.


	4. Chapter 4 False Alarm

Harold was in his element, equations and code percolating away in his mind as his fingers danced over the keyboard.

Suddenly his train of thought was interrupted by an ungodly wailing. Confounded, he wondered what could have possibly occurred to trigger the fire alarm.

He exited his lab and went upstairs, surprised to find John, Carter, and Lionel waiting for him.

"What's going on? Is it a fire?"

"No Harold" Carter said firmly. "This is an intervention. You know its not good for you to go so long without eating or resting. The Machine has locked you out until we tell it you can go back."

Too tired from his adrenaline crash to be more than only mildly outraged at this turn of events, he was distracted when Lionel stepped forward offering him a large paper bag "I got all of your favorites for you. They're even still warm."

"A shower and a nap might also be in order" John said gently. "You are beginning to get a bit ripe."

Clutching his bag of food, Harold stumbled off to his bedroom in a huff. He fell into an exhausted sleep only half way through his meal.

His friends meanwhile celebrated the success of their plan, but knew Harold would be much harder to deal with next time.

(Sadly, the world would have to wait quite a bit longer for the invention of flying cars, as Harold's epiphany had completely slipped his mind by the time he woke up.)


	5. Chapter 5 Party Clothes

John tugged again at his bow tie, feeling uncomfortable and wishing he were in his work suit. Even if said suit was made of metal he still found it more comfortable than his current expensive well-tailored tux. But the armored suit would be too out of place at this high society charity event, and John was not about to let its absence keep him from attending. Harold shot him a disapproving look, and John left off fiddling with his tie, instead fiddling with his cuffs to re-check the presence of the bracelets that would call his suit in an emergency. Sadly, the briefcase form of the suit would be as out of place as the suit itself, and there was no way John would check it. He would just have to make do until its arrival should trouble erupt. Fortunately the inner bodysuit he wore with the armor was almost as good as Kevlar and would provide John with some protection, even if Harold had lamented what the skin-tight body stocking did to the drape of his tux. But even without the protection the bodysuit gave or if his armor were unavailable, John would still place himself in harms way to protect the man who had given him a second chance. He might gain more public acclaim from his exploits as Iron Man, but John placed a higher priority to his duties as Harold's bodyguard.

John stopped fidgeting and glanced over to catch the eye of Harold's other bodyguard for the evening. Carter looked resplendent in her lavender gown, calmly surveying the throng from Harold's side as she sipped her champagne. John would protect Harold from any physical threats, but was impotent when it came to the more dangerous social threats, the nasty innuendo and vicious jibes that seemed so common from the upper crust of society. Those fell under Carter's watch, and she would protect Harold's emotional health with all the ferocity of a mama bear with one cub.

She also served as a useful buffer against the various gold-diggers that would try and attach themselves to Harold like leeches. While John had no qualms about punching out any man who threatened Harold, he was at a loss as to how to deal with women who presented a threat only to Harold's wallet. Those greedy women who had eyes only for Harold's money, unable to see the treasure that was the man himself. The kind heart and giving nature shielded behind a prickly, snarky exterior. The world might not recognize those characteristics, but John was well acquainted as he had been a recipient of the man's generosity. While Harold might be too polite to rebuff their advances sharply, Carter sent them packing without hesitation.

Between the two of them they had Harold covered.


	6. Chapter 6 Not Suitable

Team Iron Man had decided on a movie marathon to relax and unwind after successfully foiling the latest plot of AIM.

Finch had questioned the choice of movies, considering they had their own real-life superhero, but was quickly outvoted by the others. They hadn't gotten too far into the Batman marathon when Fusco, remembering some of the hoopla generated about the franchise, made his now infamous suggestion.

Finch was appalled. "Putting aside the sheer idiocy of using Hollywood as a guide for any decision, in this case life will most certainly NOT imitate art. There will be NO nipples on the Iron Man suit." With that Finch stormed off to the kitchen to brew himself a calming pot of tea.

Reese's relief was short-lived as he caught Carter staring at him speculatively. She was doubtless remembering some of the other hype associated with the films and was now considering the size of his codpiece in the armor. Reese fled to join Finch in the kitchen, his face as red as the Iron Man suit.


End file.
